A woman who is leading an expedition to Antarctica has been granted special access to Sir Ernest Shackleton's personal cabin on the RRS Discovery.

On Monday, Wendy Searle will write a special entry in the South Polar Times on board the ship, which took Sir Ernest on his first Antarctic expedition with Captain Scott in 1901.

Members of the ship's crew produced a regular magazine on board during the winter spent on the ship, filling it with letters, articles and illustrations.

Ms Searle is planning her own route to the South Pole via an unclimbed glacier in the Transantarctic Mountains.

She will be joined by teammates who will drag their food and equipment across 400 miles by sledge just as the crew of the Discovery did more than 100 years ago.

South Pole 2020 aims to inspire others, especially women and girls, to find their own adventures.

The expedition will also bring back scientific data ranging from information about the effects of climate change to data for a study on human resilience.

Ms Searle said: "This is a fantastic opportunity to write my own South Polar Times entry and I'm delighted to be working with Dundee Heritage Trust on this project.

"I'm especially interested in what the experience of sailing to the bottom of the world and overwintering in a tiny hut would have been like as a woman."